Why Abortion Was The Most Fascinating Part Of The Vikki & Barnaby Interview

Vikki Campion and Barnaby Joyce gave a bizarrely stilted interview to Sunday Night where they revealed Vikki had considered abortion. Photo: Channel 7Source:Whimn

The Sunday Night interview with Barnaby Joyce and Vikki Campion was full of revelations. In one of the most anticipated television appearances this year, the pair discussed how they got together, what prompted them to speak out, and why they decided to charge $150, 000 for the interview (for their son, Sebastian, whose trust fund the money is going into).

While the couple revealed that they first bonded over difficult personal circumstances, it was the issue of abortion that proved to be one of the most fascinating aspects of this whole saga. When you consider Barnaby Joyce’s former position as the leader of The Nationals, he hasn’t been shy (in the slightest) about his stance on abortion.

So, it was an interesting exercise watching Joyce, the man who vehemently opposes abortion and fought tooth and nail against same-sex marriage, sit next to his partner as she discusses how she tried to abort her pregnancy.

Barnaby Joyce also conceded that he believed he was "living a lie" when he and his ex-wife continued attending official events together mid last year. Photo: Channel 7Source:Whimn

Campion revealed that she even left the ACT in an attempt to procure termination drugs before deciding against it, saying that while “Barnaby is strongly pro-life, I believe that a woman has a right over her own body up to a point. Certainly up until the baby has a heartbeat. I thought, ‘Well, maybe I should just take matters into my own hands.’”

Obviously, Barnaby approved of her decision not to go through with the abortion, saying, “I can understand that people are under incredible, incredible pressure. And Vikki more than most. You know, and I can’t enforce my views on other people.” But that hasn’t stopped him in the past.

Vikki Campion with son, Sebastian. Photo: Channel 7Source:Whimn

Perhaps the biggest revelation to come out of the interview was that Campion was pressured to abort the baby by “conservatives” within the National Party. Whilst Campion refused to name names, she said “they came to me and they said ‘You’re pregnant and you have to get an abortion’. And they said, ‘If you don’t, they’re gonna come after you.“And I said it’s too late, it has a heartbeat. And they said, ‘If you don’t, they’re gonna come after you.’ And they did.”

Joyce called those involved, “absolute scum of the earth people” and referred to the Australian Parliament as a “mad boarding school”. Condemning the people who were behind the attempt to get Vikki to terminate the pregnancy, he said “their contribution to it is they’re gonna try and make an incredibly difficult situation almost unbearable by saying to you that, ‘Woman, you will do this if you want a career in this place.’ And that’s your Australian Parliament.”

Campion and Joyce bathing Sebastian. Photo: Channel 7Source:Whimn

It’s all a bit rich. The Nationals are among the most hardline anti-abortionists in Australian parliament and yet, when it suits them, they allegedly urge a woman to abort a foetus for their own benefit. The only consistent thing here is their determination in trying to control what women do with their bodies.

It was telling that throughout the interview, Joyce repeated some iteration of the statement “I look at Sebastian and think, ‘Boy, man, you caused some problems’,” blaming his baby son for the scandal that he alone is responsible for.

Baby Sebastian Joyce. Photo: Channel 7Source:Whimn

While on the surface it may seem like this interview was an exercise in accountability for Barnaby Joyce, it seems like all he did was prove how far he still has to go before he begins to take responsibility for the humiliation he’s brought upon his ex-wife, Natalie and their daughters, as well as Campion and Sebastian.

But then again, perhaps that’s too much to ask of a person who exists within the bubble of the “mad boarding school” that is Australian parliament.